Page 75 of The Winter Bride

She had been so intent on her thoughts and her son that she didn’t notice the dark-clothed figure that had shadowed her all the way.

Nancy and Jamie were in the rooms above the shop when she arrived and were pleased to see her and Adam back home. They were clearly very much in love. Jamie could hardly take his eyes off Nancy and over the last few months she had blossomed into a very attractive young woman. Annie couldn’t help but feel a little pang of envy as she watched them together. She had no doubt that had he lived she and Monty would have grown old together, but it wasn’t meant to be, and the other man she loved was unavailable. Still, she consoled herself, she had parents and Adam, and that was enough. It would have to be.

‘Did you go to see your mam an’ dad?’ Nancy asked once Jamie had left.

Annie nodded as she put Adam down. He immediately pottered away to play with Alfred and his toys. ‘Yes, I certainly did, but I’d best slip down and check that everything is all right in the shop with Ruth. I’ll tell you all about the visit this evening,’ she promised.

As she’d expected, Ruth had managed admirably, and again Annie felt a little surplus to requirements. She was now the proud owner of two very upper-class dress shops, so why, she wondered, did she still miss the days when she’d collected rags and bones on old Dobbin? Somehow the excitement of living in London had long since worn off, especially since she’d been reunited with her birth parents.

She’d only been down in the shop for a few minutes when Simon appeared and she greeted him with a smile, although it was obvious that it was Ruth he’d come to see.

‘I was wondering if you’d be back,’ he said. ‘And I was rather hoping that if you were, you might allow me to whisk Ruth away for lunch?’

‘Of course I will; it’s the least I can do,’ Annie agreed. ‘And don’t rush back. In fact, why don’t you take the rest of the day off? You’ve earned it after taking such good care of the shop.’

The happy couple left just as a new customer entered, and for the rest of the day Annie was too busy serving her clients to think of much else.

She closed the shop at the usual time, and as she was turning the sign to ‘Closed’, she glanced up and saw a shadowy figure in the empty shop doorway opposite. She frowned. They were dressed in dark clothes but as it was already dark it was impossible to see much more. Hurrying, she turned the lights off, locked the door and made her way upstairs where Nancy had a tasty cottage pie ready for their evening meal.

‘Jamie was wondering if you’d mind ’im taking me to the music hall this evenin’?’ Nancy said as she served the dinner up. Annie had crossed to the front window and was gazing down into the dark street to see if the figure was still there. It was, and a shiver ran up her spine. There had been no unpleasant incidents for some time now and Annie sincerely hoped it would stay that way.

‘Of course you must go. You don’t need to ask.’ Masking her concern, she crossed to Adam and lifted him to sit at the table with her and Nancy. ‘Once I’ve closed the shop, you know you’re free to do as you please. You’re almost an adult now.’

She sat down at the table, but even though she hadn’t eaten since leaving Peggy’s that morning, Annie found that her appetite had fled as she thought of the figure across the road.

When they’d finished, Annie insisted on washing up the pots while Nancy went to get ready. It was a bitterly cold night and when Nancy emerged, looking very pretty in one of the gowns Annie had bought her, Annie went to fetch her own coat and hat from the bedroom.

‘Put these on, they’re warmer than yours and you’ll need them tonight. It’s cold enough to cut you in two out there,’ she told her.

Nancy beamed with pleasure. ‘Are yer sure?’ The coat was pure wool and a rich burgundy colour.

‘Quite sure. It’s so cold I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t have some snow soon. Anyway, have a lovely evening. I’m going to get his lordship ready for bed now before he falls asleep standing up. Just make sure you lock up behind yourself when you come in.’

Half an hour later, Adam was tucked up in bed. A quick glance out of the window had assured Annie that the shadowy figure had gone and she began to relax a little. Lifting the newspaper, she settled herself into the fireside chair and had just got comfortable when she heard someone knocking on the shop door. Hurrying to the front window she stared down into the street below and sighed with relief when she saw that it was Marie.

‘I thought I would pop around and see how your visit went?’ Marie said when Annie let her in.

‘It went really well.’ Annie went to make them a pot of tea and when they’d settled, she told Marie all about the time she had spent with her mother.

‘It means a great deal to you to know who you belong to, doesn’t it?’ Marie sipped delicately at the tea in her china cup.

‘Yes, it does. But we have so much time to make up for I feel that I can’t see enough of them,’ she confided sadly.

Marie frowned. She’d noticed that Annie seemed restless of late and had guessed that she wasn’t happy, although she’d never said as much.

‘And what else is wrong?’

‘What?’ Annie flushed. Marie knew her so well now that she could read her like a book. She fondled Alfred’s ears before eventually admitting, ‘I suppose I just get a bit lonely sometimes.’

‘But you ’ave Adam and Nancy. And myself of course,’ Marie pointed out. ‘Or is it someone in particular who you are lonely for per’aps?’

Annie sighed. ‘Well . . . there was someone, before I married Monty,’ she admitted eventually. ‘But we could never be together. I did love him, and I think he had feelings for me too.’

‘Oh?’ A hopeless romantic, Marie was intrigued. ‘In that case why did you marry Monty?’

‘Because it wasn’t possible for me to be with this other man.’

‘Ah . . . was the man married per’aps?’